From the Herald-Times:

Tutto Bene’s lease is expiring in March and the owners have decided to close the cafe on Feb. 28.

“We had hoped to make some necessary capital improvements to enhance our menu but under the current economic conditions are unable to do so on our own,” owner Craig Widen said in a press release today.

A search for a new partner to help with a move to a new spot also have not worked out, the press release said.

“We will continue to investigate finding new partners,” Widen’s statement said.

What a loss! I hope things work out.

Bravo, George Will! In his column published today, Will puts the global warming myth into stunningly clear perspective. I found this link to a free version, but you can also access it if you have a subscription to the Washington Post. I love his biting wit (referring to Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s predictions to the Los Angeles Times that global warming might melt 90 percent of California's snowpack):

No more lettuce for Los Angeles? Chu likes predictions, so here is another: Nine decades hence, our great-great-grandchildren will add the disappearance of California artichokes to the list of predicted planetary calamities that did not happen. Global cooling recently joined that lengthening list.

He then goes on to recite the terribly wrong predictions of a new ice age and planetary calamity that were as “well established” in the ‘70s as global warming is today. (For you youngsters out there, that may help you understand why I don’t run when Chicken Little says the sky is falling.)

And here is the kicker:

As global levels of sea ice declined last year, many experts said this was evidence of man-made global warming. Since September, however, the increase in sea ice has been the fastest change, either up or down, since 1979, when satellite record-keeping began. According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.

An unstated premise of eco-pessimism is that environmental conditions are, or recently were, optimal. The proclaimed faith of eco-pessimists is weirdly optimistic: These optimal conditions must and can be preserved or restored if government will make us minimize our carbon footprints, and if government will "remake" the economy.

Yes, the climate changes. So what? We could be spending our energy figuring out how best to adjust to that fact rather than chasing the canard that we can somehow maintain – from our perspective – “optimal conditions.” We are so vain!

So, IU was one of the first universities to offer new student email powered by Microsoft. Microsoft announced yesterday some really cool upgrades and a new name for the service, Outlook Live.

With enhanced collaboration and communications features, Live@edu is a no-charge suite that enhances student productivity in both the classroom and their personal lives. In addition, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Exchange Labs, which currently delivers rich e-mail functionality as a service to 3.5 million Live@edu users, will be renamed Outlook Live.

In addition, they are opening it up to faculty and staff at no charge. I don’t know if this will affect IU staff, however, since we already have Exchange.

But the whole Outlook Live environment is really cool and integrates IM through either or both Windows Live or Office Communicator (which IU also uses). There’s also a video where you can see the new features.

* Multibrowser support. Access e-mail over the Web using Windows Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari.

* Enhanced conversation view. Organize e-mail in a new way that cuts down on unnecessary inbox clutter by combining multiple e-mails into a single conversation.

* Integrated instant messaging and presence. Access communications right at your fingertips in a single interface that marries e-mail and instant messaging from Windows Live Messenger or Microsoft Office Communicator.